Disappointment
by Sarah1281
Summary: The Once-ler's mother, May, refuses to dwell on the past after that last tree fell and she's certainly not thinking about a certain someone no matter how much they attempt to haunt her. The past is only as real as you let it be.


Disappointment

Disclaimer: I do not own the Lorax.

Going back to being poor after several years of being rich was a difficult and unwanted adjustment. It wasn't like rags to riches didn't have its complications, too, but that was a far more welcome challenge.

At one point in her life, May had expected to be poor forever. Then, for one brief shining moment (or, to be more precise, six years of them), she had thought that she would be well-taken care of for the rest of her life. She'd been wrong on both counts. She'd been poor once, had a fling with riches, and was now poor again.

She didn't know how she could forgive _certain people_ for getting her hopes up and abruptly sending them crashing to the ground. Not that she'd have to face that or _him_ since _he'd_ presumably chosen to stay behind in that desolate little wasteland.

May didn't understand why in the world _he'd_ have stayed there. There was nothing left but ghosts and ruination. _He_ had always been a strange one, though, and far beyond her understanding even at the height of _his_ success. _He_ was probably drowning in **regrets** or something. That was utterly pointless, of course. All the regret in the world wasn't going to change anything so why bother being miserable?

That wasn't to say that May didn't blame _him_ because she did. _He _had a good thing going. **They** had a good thing going and for the first time ever she was really looking forward to the future. And _he_ had ruined it.

That horrible Lorax would have said – **did** in fact say, loudly and frequently – that it was their fault for cutting down the trees. He was wrong, of course. Cutting down a **few **trees wasn't a problem. Cutting down **them all** so that there could be no more thneeds, on the other hand…yeah, that was stupid. Why couldn't _he_ have planted some damn trees so that that didn't happen? It couldn't possibly take that long to grow! Sure she had never suggested it but **she** wasn't the CEO of the company and so it wasn't her job!

Still, for all that this was all _certain people's_ fault, the fact that _he_ was choosing to dwell on it instead of doing the practical thing and moving on was even more disappointing. And just when she'd thought _he'd_ stop breaking her heart, too. That was the problem with believing in people, especially children. They always let you down eventually.

With Brett and Chet it was easier because there had never been particularly high expectations for them. That was why one of them (damned if she could remember which) was her favorite son, after all. _He_ had always been so very certain of _himself_ despite inconvenient little details like **reality** and so many times she had come close to believing as well. And then the one time that she thought it was safe to start believing and…

The only thing that kept _certain people_ from being a complete failure was the fact that _he'd_ given them money before they'd left. It wasn't anything like the money that they'd had before when they knew that each day would just replenish their finances and it wouldn't fund their lavish lifestyle for long.

Just the same, it was something and May had never been stupid. She wouldn't throw that money away living for the moment and trying to recapture their previous life. If they played it smart – which they **would** – then they could live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Still, they deserved more and having to make do with this pittance was painful when contrasted with all of that earlier promise.

They hadn't returned to the farmer or their old town after the thneed went bust. It would be too humiliating to return in disgrace. They were better off, certainly, but no wild success thanks to _someone's_ short-sightedness.

When they'd left, she wasn't quite sure where they'd go and just kept driving until she'd found a nice spot to settled down far enough away that no one recognized them. That was the best part, really, the fact that no one knew of their connection to the disaster over at Thneedville.

**Everyone** had heard of what had become of that land and jealousy quickly turned to pity. Some Schadenfreude-laced pity, perhaps, but pity all the same. No one was sending help. No one knew how to help and it wasn't like Thneedville was asking for assistance. Maybe it was pride. Well, if things got too bad then they'd probably cave and ask for help. They might even get it.

There were trees in this new land that they lived in. Nothing like the Truffula trees of Thneedville but she'd never seen anything like that before arriving, either. Perhaps they were truly unique and now gone forever.

May was glad that there were no Truffula trees here. They would only remind her of things best left unremembered. She had never really liked trees. She hadn't particularly **disliked** them, either. In fact, she'd never had an opinion about them one way or the other. They had always just been a part of life, not important but ever-present and in the background.

_Certain people_ had always loved tees and drove her crazy climbing them like a monkey (or trying to) before _he _was even steady on _his_ feet. _He'd_ wake them at the crack of dawn or keep them up at night or just pester them during the day playing that damn guitar at all hours while sitting in a tree. And to think that she'd gotten _him_ that guitar so that maybe _he'd_ keep his feet on the ground for more than five minutes at a time!

Sill her. _He'd _always had to be so difficult. She still remembered listening to _him_ compose that first thneed jingle. _He _didn't even know what a thneed would **be** yet but _he_ had wanted something to rhyme with 'need.'

No one here knew about any of that or about their connection to that disaster. May had made sure that her family knew that people weren't **going** to know. It wasn't shame, exactly, (though _certain people_ had given her plenty to be ashamed of) and it certainly wasn't guilt. She'd done nothing wrong and would never accept otherwise. So things hadn't worked out. It happened and those decisions had not been left up to her.

It was just that it was all in the **past** and that was only as real as you let it be.

May had always been more future-oriented anyway and her future was now.

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